Slack-adjuster for brakes.



J. J. ACKER.

SLAGK ADJUSTBR FOR BRAKES.

APPLIoATIoN FILED MAY 23. 1910.

. 1,023,790, Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

:OLUME'IA PLANDGRAPH Co..wASHxNa1'uN D c UNITED sTATEs rATnNT .n

JULIUS J. ACKER, OF HORTON, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR 0F FIFTY-ONEONE-HUNDREDTI-IS 'IO WALTER P. MURPHY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .ANDTWENTY-FOUR AND FIVE- TENTHS ONE-HUNDREDTHS TO CYRUS L. BUNDY, OFKINGSLAND, NEW JERSEY.

SLACK-ADJUSTER FOR BRAKES.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS J. AGxER, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Horton, Brown county, Kansas, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Slack-Adjusters for Brakes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to slack adjusters for brakes and is particularlydesigned to auto` matically compensate for the wear on brake shoes asused in the ordinary and well known air brake systems.

In making an application of brakes, according to the system which isordinarily employed, the push rod, controlled by the brake cylinder, isconnected through suitable levers with the live lever rods which are, inturn, connected with the brake shoes. It is customary to allow a certainfixed amount of motion at the release of these live lever rodscontrolling the brake shoes, and it is the object of my invention tocompensate for the wear on the brake shoes and thus keep this releasemotion constant.

I am aware that many types of slack adjusters have heretofore been used,but in my improvement, the parts are much simpler and less expensivethan those which are ordinarily employed, the results at the same timebeing superior on account of the simplicity and unfailing action of themechamsm.

In -my improvement, I provide a pair of ratchets with engaging dogs, theposition of one of these ratchets being regulated by the degree of wearon the brake shoes and the other ratchet being controlled by themovement of the parts when the brakes are released.

Theseand other advantages of my invention will be more readilyunderstood by ref-- erence to the accompanying drawings which show apreferred embodiment of my improvements and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the various parts which are employed inconnection with my slack adjuster. Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentaryside elevation and partly sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the ratchet mechanismassociated with the push rod.

The push rod 10 connected with the piston 11, operates within the brakecylinder Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 23, 1910.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Serial No. 562,814.

dog is released, can be reciprocated longitudinally within the slot inthe adjuster member 54, being held from horizontal displacement by thevertical cross piece on one of the adjuster members 54 and the dogcasing 56. The hodge rod 17 serves to connect the cylinder lever 14 withthe lever 61 which is pivotally connected at its end with the lug 62 onthe end of the brake cylinder 12. The cylinder lever 14 and the lever 61are pivotally connected at their free ends with the live lever rods 16and 21, respectively. Associated with each of these pivotal connectionswith the live lever rods, are the adjusting rods 63 and 64,vrespectively, which have in their ends the slots 65 and 66. Theadjuster rod 63 is pivotally connected by a pin 67 with the adjustercasing 68 which is in the form of a hollow box and within which theratchet 69, pivotally attached to the adjusting rod 64 by the pin 70, isadapted to slide. As most clearly shown in Fig.. 2, the retaining dog 71is connected with the extensions 72, 72 on the adjuster casing 68 bymeans of the pin 73. The dog 71 has an extension 74 which can be raisedby-means ofthe bell-crank lever 75 to vwhich is pivotally attached thereleasing rod 76. i

' The operation of the slack adjuster which I have just described maynow be readily understood. When the brakes are applied, the push rod 10moves to the right thereby carrying the ratchet 53 to the right onaccount of the retaining action of the dog 55. At the same time thehodge rod 17 is moved a proportional distance to the right so that theends of the cylinder lever 14 and the lever 61 will be moved acorresponding distance in the slots 65 and 66, respectively. As the pushrod 10 continues to be moved to the right, the end of the cylinder lever14 connected with the live lever rod 16 continues to be moved to theleft until it strikes the left hand end of the slot 65. Meanwhile thehodge rod 17, as explained above, is actuated to move the end of thelever 61 connected to the live lever rod 21 to the right hand end of theslot 66. Now if there has been wear on the brake shoes associated withthe live lever rod 16, this lever rod will be carried farther tothe leftand will thus force the adjuster casing 68 to the left, so that the dog71 will engage a new tooth in the ratchet G9. Similarly if the brakeshoes associated with the live lever rod 21 have become worn, theadjust-ing rod 64 will be moved to the right thereby correspondinglycarrying the ratchet 69 to the right and similarly causing the dog 71 toengage a new tooth. Now, when it is desired to release the brakes, thepush rod 10 is moved to the left thereby also carrying to the left theratchet 53 and the end of the cylinder lever 14 connected therewith,until the pin 77 connecting the cylinder lever 14 and the live lever rod16, reaches the right hand end of the slot 65. In this way furthermovement of the cylinder lever 14k is prevented and as the push rod l0continues to move to the left, the dog will ride over the` teeth of theratchet 53, engaging a new set of teeth.

Then it is desired to replace worn-outl brake shoes, the parts may bebrought to full release position by releasing the dogs 7l and 55 bymeans of the release rods 76 and 58, respectively. j

It will be apparent tothos'eskilled in the art, that many detailedchanges may be made in the exact 'construction which I have describedwithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In combination, a push rod, lmeans for actuating said push rod, a dogcontrolled ratchet movable in one direction with relation to said pushrod, a cylinder lever pivotally connected with said ratchet, anadjusting rod having a slot therein, and with which said cylinder leveris connected, and a dog controlled ratchet for permitting movement ofsaid adjusting rod in one direction only, the movement of the ratchetassociated with the push rod by the cylinder lever compensating for themovement of the adjusting rod by said lever, substantially as described.

2. In combination, a push rod, means for actuating said push rod, a dogcontrolled ratchet movable in one direction with relation to said pushrod, al cylinder lever pivotally connected with said ratchet, a livelever rod suitably connected with the brake shoes, means for pivotallyconnecting said live lever rod with said cylinder lever, an adjustingrod having a slot therein in which said connecting means is adapted toreciprocate, and a dogcontrolled ratchet limiting the movement of saidcylinder lever and its associated live lever rod in one direction only,movement of said adjusting rod being compensated for by correspondingmove ment through said cylinder lever ot' the ratchet associated withsaid push rod, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a push rod, means for actuating said push rod, a dogcontrolled ratchet movable in one direction with relation to said pushrod, a cylinder lever pivot* ally connected with said ratchet, a livelever rod suitably connected with the brake shoes,

means for pivot-ally connecting said live` lever rod with said cylinderlever, an adjusting rod having a slot therein in which said connectingmeans is adapted to reciprocate, and a dog controlled ratchet limitingthe movement of said cylinder lever and its associated live lever rod inone direction only, movement of said adjustingrod being Copies of thispatent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissionerof Patents, Washington, D. C.

